Indian restaurant and all-day buffet

Little India Grill 5/29/99
18383 Pioneer Blvd., Artesia, CA 90701
phone 562-924-7569

Location. It's on the west side of Pioneer Blvd., in the second shopping center south of 183rd St., on Pioneer Blvd.

"Little India." Pioneer Blvd. in Artesia is not yet officially known as "Little India", but it should be. This area extends from a few blocks north of the 91 freeway all the way south to about South St., but the walk-around area is from about 183rd to 187th St. On a warm Sunday evening you'll see families walking around, many of the women in their fancy native dress. There are many Indian shops in this area: a large supermarket, smaller markets, cookware shops, clothing, jewelry, book, music, dessert shops, and restaurants. You may not find a parking space on Pioneer, but there are several parking areas, and you can park on the side streets and behind the building, all for free. I don't remember seeing no-parking zones or meters, but keep your eyes open. If in doubt, park over by the supermarket; from Pioneer Blvd. go west on 183rd and make a left into the parking lot. You'll also see a few Chinese, Vietnamese, and other restaurants in this area. *Since many stores are open Sunday, many are closed on Monday. *This restaurant is open seven days a week, but call anyway.

The restaurant. They do an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $4.99 and a dinner buffet from 4 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. for $5.99. You can order from the menu, they have to go, and they have several specials, but this is the only place I know of that does an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet all day. The vegetable and chicken curry dishes vary from day to day. Today the meat dishes were tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, and goat curry. They just started having goat curry every day. I don't go around looking for goat curry, and I'll skip cuts from the lower leg, but I'll eat a piece of round. Just assume the vegetable dishes are good; in fact one Indian lady asked which dishes were vegetarian -- she was having the vegetarian buffet. The vegetable dishes in English were lentils, cauliflower, vegetable fritters, and a spicy carrot and onion condiment, and perhaps another. Other items include salad, nan bread, an appetizer, mint sauce, limes, rice, and rice pudding for dessert.

Summary. It's all ok, they do the buffet all day, the vegetables and tandoori chicken are always good. You can find better food, but for the price I keep coming back for lunch. They only have about six tables inside and one outside, so you may have to wait. Afterwards, walk over to one of the dessert shops to the south.